
Researchers from Queen’s University Belfast have discovered a cutting-edge way of using waste water to track avian flu.
This new method could help to determine how well seasonal flu vaccines are working and may also help detect the next pandemic at an early stage. It also works on human flu variants.
The study shows how sewage can be an efficient and cost-effective way to track flu in the environment – and provide a better understanding of how it can spread to animal and human populations.
Crucial work
Researchers say this is crucial to monitor whether avian flu will “jump” from birds to other mammals and form a new flu virus which could cause severe disease in the human population.
Andrew Lee, from the School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast, said the study showed that waste water was an easy and cheap way of monitoring the spread of avian flu.
“Avian flu has had a devastating impact on both domestic and wild animal populations worldwide, but current methods of surveillance rely on detection of sick or dead animals.
“We urgently need better ways to monitor and understand where flu virus is spreading in the environment, its potential for spread in wild or domestic animals, and its possibility of transfer to humans.”
Led by Professor John W. McGrath and Dr Deirdre Gilpin, researchers have developed tests to measure and characterise a range of important human and animal pathogens in waste water.
The study was co-led by Connor Bamford, a lecturer at the School of Biological Sciences and Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast.
He said: “Our research has developed ways to help us detect and characterise flu virus in waste water samples, which allowed us to discriminate between flu from animal and human origin.
“Finding evidence of avian influenza in wastewater alongside human flu supports the use of this true ‘one-health’ environmental monitoring tool to protect the health of livestock like poultry.”
The research was led by scientists and researchers from teams at Queen’s University Belfast, working closely with colleagues from the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute.
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